13 August 2013: Carl Icahn tweets about Apple
Activist investor Carl Icahn tweeted that he had a large position in Apple and believed it was extremely undervalued, adding that he had spoken with CEO Tim Cook. Apple shares jumped on the news, adding billions in market value within minutes. Icahn pushed for bigger buybacks, and Apple did expand its capital return program. It was an early sign of how a single tweet could move one of the world's biggest companies.
The lesson: Activists can unlock value, but the underlying business must already be strong to make it last.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Apple at the start of 2015 → $9,259 today, vs $3,301 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2015, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 9.3 times the money, and $5,958 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Apple teaches: The best returns often come from companies that looked finished; Apple was a near-bankrupt also-ran in 1997, which is exactly why it was cheap.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $27.00 | $9,259 | $3,301 |
| 2018 | $43.00 | $5,814 | $2,519 |
| 2020 | $75.00 | $3,333 | $2,092 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Apple? Every starting year and the full story →
More Apple history
- 2 January 2019: Tim Cook writes a letter nobody wanted to read
- 9 January 2007: Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone
- 24 January 1984: The Macintosh goes on sale
- 27 January 2010: Apple unveils the iPad
- 1 April 1976: Apple is founded, and one co-founder cashes out early
- 11 April 1976: The Apple I goes on sale for $666.66
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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